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Name of the Structure St. George’ (Georgios) Church
Category Church
Period Ottoman
Current Condition A part of Koç University AKMED Kaleiçi Museum
Construction Date 1863 (reconstruction or restoration?)
Built by The inscription on the gate states that it was re-built with the support of the Christian community.
Location / Address Barbaros, Kocatepe Sk. No:22, 07100 Muratpaşa/Antalya

This east-west oriented rectangular church has a single nave and is covered with a vault. Its general appearance bears the characteristics of Mediterranean architecture. The ceiling is decorated with plain carved and plaster decorations in different shades of blue to symbolize heaven.

The round-arched doors that provide access to the naos are located on the south and north façades. There are four lower and five upper windows on the same façades. The upper part of the door’s arch on the south façade has three levels; the arch’s pediment contracts inwards on both sides and concludes with a pointed arch in the center. The middle of the pediment features a depiction of the dragon slayer St. George (Yorgi) on horseback carrying a child on the horse’s croup. On either side, at a lower level, there are two symmetrical angel figures. A nine-line long construction inscription in the Karamanlı dialect of Turkish is written at the top of the pediment:

“High Priest Kaisarios, Tuzcuoğlu and his Master Nikolaos Köseoğlu, Head Presbyter Klemis, Epitropos during the Hacı Strati Period.

This Church of St. Georgios existed for all eternity. It was built with the help of the Christian community in Antalya to prevent it from going to ruin. / Great Martyr / St. Georgios / January 1, 1863”

Although the marble door in the north is similar to the south door, the arch pediment contracts and rises inwards with a two-stage profile and concludes with a round arch in the center. Again, the dragon slayer St. George is depicted in the center of the pediment, surrounded by angelic seraphim and floral motifs. Below the figure of St. George is a relief of two angels and a cross, and the text “Great Martyr / St. Georgios / 1863” in two lines in Karamanlı Turkish.

A semicircular apse on the east façade has a window in its center. A total of 22 windows allow daylight into the single-nave naos. On the west side of the naos is a gallery (gynekaion/women’s prayer hall) reached by a spiral staircase in the northwest corner of the building, which provides access from the exterior. Wooden railings partition the part overlooking the naos, which has four windows for daylight.

The semicircular ambon on the north façade is much higher than the floor. This section is reached by a staircase built into the niche. There is a round-arched niche in the north corner.

Although the building is currently completely plastered and painted, it is built of ashlar and has a Baghdadi roof. The roof has an interior barrel vault covered with tiles on the exterior.

The church lost its entire congregation following the population exchange between the Greeks and the Turks in the 1920s, after which it was used as a warehouse for a while. Some additions were made over time. The original wooden components of the church were also destroyed over the years. The building was purchased by Suna and İnan Kıraç in 1991, and after its restoration, it became one of the exhibition halls of the Kaleiçi Museum in 1996.

St. Georgios, one of the five Greek Orthodox churches in Kaleiçi, is important for bearing traces of Antalya’s recent history and ethnography.

Referans

R. M. Riefstahl, Cenubi Garbi Anadolu’da Türk Mimarisi, İstanbul 1941, 71-72.
G. Pechlivanidis, Attaleia kai Attaleiotes, Ekdoseis Atlantis – Atina (1989) = (Πεχλιβανίδης, Γιώργος (1989). Αττάλεια και ατταλειώτες. Αθήνα: Ατλαντίς).
Ü. Muşkara, “Aya Yorgi (Agios Georgios) Kilisesi”, Batı Akdeniz Mimarlık, 10, Ocak 1999.
C. Ekin, Karamanlıca (Grek Harfli Türkçe) Kitâbeli Kiliseler, Ankara Üniversitesi, SBE, Yayımlanmamış Doktora Tezi, 2019, 34-44.
A. Durukan, “Yeniden İşlevlendirilmiş Anıtsal Yapılarda Deneyim Odaklı Tasarım: Antalya Kaleiçi ve Balbey Örneği.” Mediterranean Journal of Humanities 10, 2020, 204.
E. Tay, “Tanzimat Sonrası Antalya Sancağı’nda Kilise İnşaları”, Erciyes Akademi, 2022, 36(2), 796-800.

Aya Yorgi Kilisesi

Barbaros, Kocatepe Sk. No:22, 07100 Muratpaşa/Antalya

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